Rising tobacco taxes encourage black market in cigarettes

[Vocalek]

Rising tobacco taxes encourage black market in cigarettes: Report

Isn't this what we have been saying all along will happen if e-cigarettes are outlawed? Just what we need. Why don't they outlaw caffeine too and that way at least 80%* of the populous can become criminalized.

* Caffeine Nation - CBS Sunday Morning - CBS News

They forget that people who are in jail don't pay any taxes, to speak of. No income = no income tax, no property tax, no automobile taxes, and --since most prisons are now non-smoking, no tobacco tax.

 

[Vocalek]

Wow: I just did a more careful reading of the story in the link that I quickly grabbed my caffeine statistic from. Get this:

But the notion that caffeine is harmless is up for a long-brewing debate.

"We really want something that'll help us work harder, sharpen our minds, increase our sense of well-being, improve our performance," says Weinberg. "Caffeine is just that substance that can unlock our potential."

This new school of caffeine advocates isn’t shooting from the hip. University of Arizona researches have found caffeine improves memory in seniors. Others at UCLA take it a step further. Caffeine improves and repairs memory for elderly women. Other studies say caffeine is therapeutic for everything from depression, to addiction, to gallstones and even skin cancer.

Peter Martin runs the Institute for Coffee Studies at Vanderbilt University. Coffee countries, like Brazil and Colombia, and a U.S. coffee trade group fund it.

"Over the last 100 years, the emphasis of the scientists have been tinged by this puritan ethic," says Martin. "And that is coffee must be bad for you. And I think that has guided scientific research."

Deja vu all over again.

 

[Vocalek]

And of course, the nay-sayers must be heard from as well:

"I think on average, the consumption of caffeine probably does create a public health risk," says Dr. Jim Lane, a researcher at the Duke University Medical School.

"We've been studying this for 15 years," says Dr. Lane. "And in every single study that I've ever done, both in the laboratory and studies of people's blood pressures when they live their normal lives, caffeine always raises blood pressure."

His research shows the amount of caffeine many Americans consume each day can raise blood pressure enough to increase risk of heart attack or stroke 20 to 30 percent.

"Half of the adult population in this country are regular coffee drinkers … drinking an average of three to four cups of coffee a day," says Dr. Lane. "That might be 100 million people who are putting themselves at great risk of a heart attack, a stroke or early death as a result of the coffee drinking they do."

Well, in my case, caffeine certainly took its time raising my blood pressure. I began drinking coffeee on a daily basis when I was 8 years old. Until the last couple of years, my average blood pressure numbers were 102/60.

I think what Dr. Lane is observing is the same effect seen with nicotine and seen with exercise. There is a temporary spike in blood pressure that abates about 10-15 minutes later.

 

[CES]

It's ironic (and not in a good way) that we search for pills for everything (weight loss, depression, personality), but then try to block readily available substances that can be self administered without physicians and pharmaceutical companies.

 

[rothenbj]

Funny, I was.doing a mental calculation, you could buy Marlboro Reds down in Va at $40 a carton, 50 cartons and sell the in NY for $80 and make a quick $2000. Weekly that's over $100k, tax invisible. 50 cartons don't fill a trunk. Just think of the profits in a van!

I can see sales down south increasing significantly. The they'll end up catching these runners, sending them to jail and we'll get to pay for their imprisonment. Wonderful world!

 

[harmony gardens]

Funny, I was.doing a mental calculation, you could buy Marlboro Reds down in Va at $40 a carton, 50 cartons and sell the in NY for $80 and make a quick $2000. Weekly that's over $100k, tax invisible. 50 cartons don't fill a trunk. Just think of the profits in a van!

I can see sales down south increasing significantly. The they'll end up catching these runners, sending them to jail and we'll get to pay for their imprisonment. Wonderful world!

Welcome to the war on drugs. There were a few people at the hearing where they passed the CHIPS tax that pointed that out, but they passed it overwhelmingly anyway.

 

[Captu4ik]

I can see sales down south increasing significantly. Then they'll end up catching these runners, sending them to jail and we'll get to pay for their imprisonment. Wonderful world!

As an international mariner, I have access to tax-free cigarettes. I used to smoke Kool's, and in 2009 was paying $12.50/ carton, delivered to my door.

I'm not sure if it was my latent honesty or simple lack of time that kept me from getting a van full. Maybe it was just my utter amazement that without tax, cigarettes could be sold for so little, with the vendor still making a profit. At the time, taxed cigarettes in my area were over $40/carton.

As someone else commented, "Welcome to the war on Drugs" (sic).

 

[Bill Godshall]

Every time the price of cigarettes increases (regardless if its due to taxation or manufacturer price hikes to fill their own pockets), e-cigarette sales and consumption will continue to increase.

 

[Stubby]

Every time the price of cigarettes increases (regardless if its due to taxation or manufacturer price hikes to fill their own pockets), e-cigarette sales and consumption will continue to increase.

Yea right Bill.... you've never seen a cigarette tax you didn't love.... unless it wasn't high enough. Besides the fact that New York, where the taxes have recently gone up once again is already having problems with black market tobacco, and this tax will give it another push, besides that..... it's just another back door prohibitionist move by TC.

Why do you insist on antagonizing the very people you claim to be trying to help?

 

[ezmoose]

We need more criminals and prisons to accommodate them; that's the(ir) answer!

 

[D103]

Agreed moose - that will also create new jobs and more revenue stream.